


No Success Without Sacrifice

by ohliamylia



Category: Warcraft (2016)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:47:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7226755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohliamylia/pseuds/ohliamylia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene: how Khadgar came back to Stormwind and how he and Lothar ended up palling it up in Khadgar's room. Pre-slash, if you will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Success Without Sacrifice

Taria bore the death of her husband with more grace than Anduin ever had the loss of his wife. In a hidden part of his heart, he was grateful for her composure. He didn’t know if he could withstand the grief of his sister with the knife of his own still twisting in his gut. He relayed to her the news of Medivh's betrayal, of his and Khadgar's fight to destroy the demon, and the strange Orcish duel. The report of past events helped to distract his mind from present ones.

"Where is Khadgar now?" Taria asked after they sat a while, shoulder-to-shoulder, in tired silence on the steps of the throne room. She took Anduin's hand in her own two. "He deserves the thanks of a kingdom, even... even at such a time as this."

"He hasn't returned?" Anduin felt another touch, colder, run the length of his spine. Was it a mistake, to leave the young mage behind for battle? Had he been deceived again?

"Not that the guards have seen." The hands on his tightened, holding him in place before he could stand. "Find your way to a healer first, before you find a gryphon."

He kissed her forehead, and did no such thing. The unexpected fear coursing through him kept the pain of his bruises at bay and the rush of cold night air past his ears kept the noise from his thoughts as he flew to Karazhan, hands tight around the reins of the most rested gryphon he could find. They came to rest on a balcony above the observatory, and he slid off the saddle, already at a run.

The room was empty and still; even the wind from the holes they had made did not disturb the air, which seemed thick and heavy. He could almost smell what Khadgar had described: magic so strong he could sense it. The fel golem was destroyed, broken into pieces. Medivh was gone.

"Khadgar!" The stones swallowed his shout. He circled the gallery until the floor fell away but found no sign. He turned to the balcony - and back, for something had caught his eye, a shadow or distortion of the air, heat on the horizon in the summer. “Khadgar? Kid?” But he was alone.

He mounted the gryphon and circled the spire, lower and lower, looking for any sign of life or movement in the razed lands below – there, in what had been the courtyard, a pale blue glow. Then, a flash of fire. Anduin nudged the gryphon into a dive, mind spinning with possibilities. Khadgar, left weakened to contend with a demon that had not truly been banished. Khadgar, his body corrupted and twisted by the fel energy. Khadgar, alone.

As he approached, two spots of blue appeared, winking up at him like stars. Someone was watching him. He pulled back on the reins, cautious, and his gryphon went into a slow spin, circling down to land. It was Khadgar, alone. The eyes were his, wells of the arcane, and the fire a ball of flame, illuminating whatever spellwork he was crafting. He finished hurriedly and the glow faded, throwing him into a steeper shadow.

“Lothar,” he began, but Anduin met before he could step forward, one hand on his chest as he examined Khadgar’s eyes.

“What was that?”

“A warding spell,” Khadgar explained, looking confused and concerned. Only then did Anduin notice that they stood at the foot of two freshly turned heaps of dirt. Graves.

“You buried them,” he asked without asking, still frowning, still waiting, still imagining. Khadgar nodded and looked over his shoulder at the unmarked ground.

“I thought that he – that they – deserved it.” Khadgar turned back, his eyes hard in the firelight, challenging that he had made the right choice. And who was Anduin to say? He could hardly bear his old friend back to Stormwind for a hero’s burial, not knowing what he knew now. He couldn’t bury this betrayer, this traitor next to his son. His king. Nor the soldiers, or any of the countless bodies that the Guardian was responsible for. No, better to led Khadgar do it, to let the damn fool mage—

Anduin pushed at Khadgar’s chest and turned aside, angry with Khadgar for leaving him to worry and furious with himself for caring. Khadgar reached out to grasp his shoulder but Anduin shrugged it off.

“The king is dead,” he bit out. Behind him, Khadgar was silent for a moment.

“I’m sorry.”

“Pity the kingdom that has lost its leader.”

“I don’t pity them, or you.” Khadgar grabbed his elbow, moving to stand in front of him. “I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. He must’ve been like family to you.”

“What would you know of family?”

It was Khadgar who withdrew this time, brows drawn. Anduin gritted his teeth and put his head in his hands to avoid the sight.

“I’m sorry. That was unkind.”

Another gentle touch to his elbow. “You’re in pain.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“Well, I forgive you,” Khadgar said, so resolute, so sure of himself. Anduin dropped his hands, resigned, repentant. He shook a little, and if his eyes shone, neither mentioned it.

“You’re old beyond your years, kid.”

Khadgar just smiled. “We should return to Stormwind,” he said, gathering up the ball of fire in his hand. It guttered between his fingers, then went out as he approached Anduin’s gryphon. “I meant to teleport but…” He paused, stroking the beak of the beast, and Anduin marveled at how familiar he’d become with flying in such a short amount of time. “I feel like I could sleep for days,” he admitted, and in the moonlight, without the warmth of the fire’s glow, Anduin could see just how wan he was.

“Perhaps you’d better ride in front.” The gryphon knelt to accept them, and Anduin mounted first so he could reach out to grasp Khadgar’s forearm. “It will be easier to catch you if you fall.”

“I can fall slowly,” Khadgar pointed out, somewhat peevishly, but acquiesced, pulling himself up to sit in front of Anduin. Anduin reached around him to grab the reins.

“Yes, but then there’s no telling where you may land, and I’ll still have to fetch you.”

Khadgar huffed dismissively and wrapped himself in his cloak to shield from the wind as the gryphon rose into the air. They flew in silence, mostly, and it was difficult to say if Khadgar was watching the forest below them or just nodding off. At one point, he raised his head and turned it as though he were about to speak to Anduin, but changed his mind.

“What?” Anduin asked, but the wind sucked away his words. Khadgar shook his head and said something that Anduin couldn’t hear, then resumed his vigil.

They landed smoothly near the gryphon master and Khadgar waved away Anduin’s offer of assistance as he came down from the saddle. He pulled his hood up and began to walk, and Anduin followed, unsure of their destination. They came to stop at the top of the stairs to the Trade District. The city before them was quiet, mourning their dead, tending to their wounded, and preparing for battles yet to come.

“Come back to my quarters,” Khadgar said suddenly, not meeting Anduin’s eyes. In the silence that followed, he pressed on. “Or I can come to yours, but mine are quieter, I think, and the bed is larger.”

“What?”

“Medivh said something to me, and Alodi too, and I think I understand them better now.”

“Who is Alodi?”

But Khadgar continued, undaunted. “When I felt the fel magic… I understood how Medivh could have been tempted by it. It was so strong, so much more than the arcane. It was so much power. It was… intoxicating.” He shook himself free of the memory.

“And you don’t want to be tempted.”

“Not by the fel.” Khadgar raised his eyes to Anduin’s, and Anduin could see the already familiar mix of fear and bravery. “We shouldn’t be alone, not now.”

“I’ll put a guard on your room.”

“Lothar,” Khadgar said stubbornly, and Anduin thought of the sleepless night ahead, of the nightmares that would come when he tried to close his eyes, and of the crushing loneliness that would strike at the darkest part of the night. If it still came, at least he could watch the sky grow light again with Khadgar by his side.

“We’ve had a long day." Anduin grabbed Khadgar’s shoulder and nodded into the city. “Come on.”


End file.
